IJBOL SENIOR SUMMER '25 (2025)

One Summer Night

Before heading off to college, an overthinking teenager asks out a former girlfriend in an effort to reconnect and hold on to his past.

Back to the 90s

A teenager is accidentally transported back in time where he meets his young parents during their college days. He then decides to alter the events to revive his parents' lifeless marriage.

A Dozen Summers

Maisie and Daisy McCormack are two ordinary 12-year-olds finding their way through life in the 21st century. Oh, and they may have just hijacked a movie.

The School of Rock: Who Am I

A spirited high school girl goes through a self-discovery journey, while writing an admission letter. This short film won the 2025 TIFF Next Wave 48-Hour Film Challenge.

The Little Sister

Fatima, 17, the youngest of three daughters, treads carefully as she searches for her own path, grappling with emerging desires, her attraction to women, and her loyalty to her caring French-Algerian family. Starting university in Paris, she dates, makes friends, and explores a whole new world, all while confronting a timeless and heartrending dilemma: How can one stay true to oneself when reconciling different parts of one’s identity feels impossible?

General Education

Levi Collins' future is looking great. He's set to attend the local university on a tennis scholarship, but there s just one small problem, he didn't graduate. Now he s got to take summer school before his parents find out he failed senior science, and a budding romance with a classmate may show him there's more to education than grades.

Can You See Us?

Rejected by his father at birth, a boy with albinism navigates a childhood of bullying, tragedy and cautious hope.

Desiderium

Brendan and Casper, lifelong friends, seek refuge from their troubles by returning to Brendan's rural home for a break. However, their bond is tested as personal issues emerge. Brendan's troubled family situation threatens to disrupt their holiday, while Casper's own life is unraveling. Over the course of a weekend filled with alcohol, drugs, and adventures, the two must learn to communicate honestly with each other or risk the fallout.

Honor Society

Honor is an ambitious high school senior whose sole focus is getting into Harvard, assuming she can first score the coveted recommendation from her guidance counselor, Mr. Calvin. Willing to do whatever it takes, Honor concocts a Machiavellian-like plan to take down her top three student competitors, until things take a turn when she unexpectedly falls for her biggest competition, Michael.

World's Best

Twelve-year-old mathematics genius Prem discovers his recently deceased father was a famous rapper and immediately sets out to learn more about his father’s life and passions. Empowered by imaginative hip-hop music-fueled fantasies, Prem is determined to find out if hip-hop truly is in his DNA.

The Line

Tom, a passionate ‘brother’ of his fraternity, is charmed by the promises of high social status and alumni connections that open doors. But as Annabelle, a classmate outside his social circle, enters his life, his devotion begins to falter. Once the scheduled hazing of new fraternity members comes to a disturbing head, Tom faces the decision of a lifetime.

Sound! Euphonium the Movie – Our Promise: A Brand New Day

The next piece begins! Kumiko is now in her second year at Kitauji High School, and with a new year comes new problems. As if making it to Nationals wasn't hard enough, Kumiko is tasked with mentoring the concert band's troublesome first years – each with their own distinct personality and problems to solve. With Kumiko busy juggling both the concert band and her new role as senpai, how does her relationship with Shuuichi fit into the picture?

Camp

An ensemble coming-of-age story centered around a group of teenagers who navigate friendship, romance, and betrayal in their final year of sleep-away camp.

This Is the Year

A nebbish high school senior and his best friends embarks on a road trip to attend the greatest music festival of the year in a last-ditch effort to win over the girl of his dreams.

Summer Night

In a small town, a young, tight-knit group of friends fall in and out of love over the course of one intoxicating, music-filled summer night.

Mr. Harrigan's Phone

Craig, a young boy living in a small town befriends an older, reclusive billionaire, Mr. Harrigan. The two form a bond over books and an iPhone, but when the man passes away the boy discovers that not everything dead is gone.

A Summer at Grandpa's

A coming-of-age story about a young brother and sister whom spend a pivotal summer in the country with their grandparents.

Flunkyball

Father and mother are thrilled: So now their teenager son has a girlfriend. And what a fabulous young woman she is! In contrast to his older sister Milli, 17-year-old Franz was previously an introverted, quiet, shy loner. His parents are all the more impressed when he brings home the pretty, self-confident Zoe one night. Zoe quickly finds her way into the heart of Franz’s family. Or is this young woman just telling people what they want to hear because she sees their hidden desires? After an ecstatic night in the clubs of the city of Munich with a little too much drugs, Zoe has disappeared and Franz's heart is broken. He absolutely has to see her again and goes looking for his first great love.

Beyond the Blue Border

GDR, August 1989: Hanna and Andreas became a target of the secret police and had to give up their plans for their future studies and desired professions. Instead, they face arbitrariness, mistrust and reprisals. Their only chance for a self-determined life lies in fleeing across the Baltic Sea. Fifty kilometres of water separate them from freedom - and only a thin connecting rope around their wrists saves them from absolute loneliness.

Lys

Teenage girl Lys is discovered inside the reactor of the newly build TERRA Power Plant and finds she is developing special powers that connect her to the energy of all living things.

Varsity Punks

When star high school quarterback AJ Montoya breaks his hand his only hope is to team up with his longtime rivals, the cross country team--a group of nerds and misfits with potential for high school glory.

Vijay Superum Pournamiyum

Vijay and Pournami are two very different sort of people who first meet because of a misunderstanding. Vijay is a lazy engineering graduate unwilling to follow his passions and Pournami is an unlucky bold girl who doesn't give up on her dreams. They don't seem to find a lot of things in common at first; but as time passes more avenues open up for them to collaborate and learn from each other.

Goldie

Goldie, a precocious teenager in a family shelter, wages war against the system to keep her sisters together while she pursues her dreams of being a dancer. This is a story about displaced youth, ambition, and maintaining your spirit in the face of insurmountable obstacles.

How to Build a Girl

The journey of Midlands teenager Johanna Morrigan, who reinvents herself as Dolly Wilde: fast-talking, lady sex-adventurer, moves to London, and gets a job as music critic in the hope of saving her poverty stricken family in Wolverhampton. Based on Caitlin Moran's bestselling semi-autobiographical novel.

Viimeinen savotta

Follows the life of a pauper child Vike Nilonpoika from the early 1900's to the 1960s. During this time he works as a lumberjack in Lapland after running away from the despotic master. He soon becomes familiar with hookers, card hustlers and alcohol.

37 Seconds

Yuma, a 23-year-old comic book artist with profound cerebral palsy, has been emotionally stunted by her well-meaning but overprotective mother. As she begins to seek independence and sexual awakening on her own terms, she discovers an unexpected path to love and forgiveness.

They Say

Not everything that happens on a school playground is play. Short film about LGBT effects in school.

Sauna

An anxious and ungainly teenage boy struggles against bullies, puberty, and his fears of mortality when his parents send him to a summer water polo camp.

Rocks

15-year-old Rocks fears that she and her little brother Emmanuel will be taken into care and forced apart if anyone finds out that their mother has left them. Against all odds, and with the help of her loyal friends, she evades the authorities and navigates the most defining days of her young life.

Daniel

Spooky stuff is afoot in a French school. All of a sudden, 10-year-old Daniel finds himself alone with Marthe – their encounter is both tender and troubling, and it seems to take place in a sort of vacuum. In Marine Atlan’s dream-like feature film debut, children dance tango timelessly, recite poems and do the drill for an imaginary terrorist attack.

My Extraordinary Summer with Tess

As the youngest of the family, Sam is haunted by the notion that someday he could become the last remaining survivor, all alone. On a family vacation at the beach, he meets the unconventional Tess, who carries her own secrets around with her and shows him how the present moment can win out over memories and anxiety about what’s yet to come.

Binti

Binti is a 12-year-old girl of Congolese origin who dreams of becoming a famous vlogger like her idol Tatyana. But when the police raid her home and try to deport her and her father Jovial, they are forced to flee. Binti meets Elias and befriends her. While Binti helps Elias to vlog about his 'save-the-okapi-club', she hatches the perfect plan: her dad has to marry Elias’s mom, so they can stay in Belgium.

Days of the Bagnold Summer

Sue works in a library. Daniel eats crisps and listens to Metallica. This was the summer Daniel was due to spend with his father and his father's new wife in Florida. But when they cancel his trip at the last minute, Sue and Daniel suddenly face the prospect of six long weeks together.

Chicuarotes

Cagalera and Moloteco are two teenagers from San Gregorio Atlapulco who are desperate to get out and move up and away from oppressive circumstances. When they hear of an opportunity to buy a spot in the electrician’s union, which could transform their lives, they quickly devolve into the criminal, adult underworld of Mexico City in a bid to buy their freedom.

My Brother Chases Dinosaurs

As a child, Jack believed the tender lie his parents told him, that Gio was a special being with superpowers, as in a comic book. Now that he is about to go to high school, however, Jack no longer believes that his brother is a superhero, in fact, he is almost ashamed of him, especially since he met Arianna, the first love of his life.

Fitting In

A teenage girl gets diagnosed with a reproductive condition that upends her plans to have sex and propels her into exploring unusual methods to have a sex life, challenging her relationships with everyone in her life, but most importantly, herself.

Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person

Sasha is a young vampire with a serious problem: she's too sensitive to kill. When her exasperated parents cut off her blood supply, Sasha's life is in jeopardy. Luckily, she meets Paul, a lonely teenager with suicidal tendencies who is willing to give his life to save hers. But their friendly agreement soon becomes a nocturnal quest to fulfill Paul's last wishes before day breaks.

Life without Sara Amat

Pep, a 13-year-old boy, is in love with a girl from his grandparents village, Sara Amat. One summer night, Sara disappears without a trace. After a few hours, Pep finds her hiding in his room. Although Pep knows that the entire town is looking for her, he agrees to her stay. Consequently, the boy will be forced to live a double life: he must lie to everyone while satisfying the Sara's demands.

A Birder's Guide to Everything

David Portnoy, a 15-year-old birding fanatic, thinks that he's made the discovery of a lifetime. So, on the eve of his father's remarriage, he escapes on an epic road trip with his best friends to solidify their place in birding history.

A quien cierra los ojos

In the microcosm of a private school, the latent traumas of adults coexist with the teenager’s wild search for identity. From somewhere on its walls, travelers could glimpse suggestive ports, but no one finds enough energy to leave the trip. The fruits of the past lay roots that imprison and immobilize those who close their eyes as salvation.

Hoard

The story follows Maria – a teenager whose mother used to be a hoarder. Now (set in the 90s) she lives in a foster home where a previous resident, Michael, inspires her to revisit the childhood memories and passions that she has repressed.

Hot Gimmick: Girl Meets Boy

A quiet teen's life is shaken up when she's forced to be her arrogant neighbor's slave. He loves her, but they both have a lot to learn about trust.

Tenkiller

One year after the tragic death of his best friend, an eighteen-year-old machinist struggles with the split of his parents and the violent way of life surrounding him.

The Slab

Tobia spent his days at Giulia and Riccardo’s house. Behind their house lies a huge imposing hill “the Lastra”. Between games, bets and discoveries, Tobia and his brother challenge each other to conquer the summit.

Billie Blue

Follow the summer of Billie's 16th birthday, a lifeguard at the water park, with her two best friends, Rosine and Juliette, as well as her perfect big sister, Annette. Billie's summer is quickly turned upside down when she falls in love with a charming cycling champion.

Lisa Frankenstein

In 1989, a misunderstood teenager has a high school crush — who just happens to be a handsome corpse! After a set of playfully horrific circumstances bring him back to life, the two embark on a murderous journey to find love, happiness…and a few missing body parts along the way.

Royalteen

A teenager struggles to keep her scandal-ridden past and a big secret from getting out when she strikes up an unlikely romance with the crown prince.

Going to Heaven

A charming story about an 11-year-old boy, Sultan, looking for innocent love after loosing his mother when he was a kid. After Sultan finds an old box with his grandma's picture and clues to her location, he decides to go all the way with his best friend, Saud, to find her in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates.

Brother

Sons of Caribbean immigrants, Francis and Michael face questions of masculinity, identity and family amid the pulsing beat of Toronto's early hip-hop scene. A mystery unfolds when escalating tensions set off a series of events which changes the course of the brothers’ lives forever.

I Have Electric Dreams

Eva a 16-year-old girl lives with her mother, her younger sister and their cat, but wants to move in with her estranged father. Clinging onto him, she tries to balance between the tenderness and sensitivity of teenage life.

My American Cousin

Sandy Wilcox is a pre-teen girl in rural 1950s British Columbia whose longing to be treated as an adult is roused even further when her older American cousin, Butch Walker, comes for a visit.

Capsules

After experimenting with mysterious substances, four chem students find themselves addicted in the worst way possible: they’ll die unless they take more.

Videogames

Rocío can’t handle the idea of separating from her best friend, who’s about to move and change schools. Her pain and frustration translate into spite until the increasing tension between them becomes irreversible when they clash in a duel at the arcade where they meet every afternoon.

Scenic Route

Stranded on an isolated desert road, two life-long friends fight for survival as their already strained relationship spirals into knife-wielding madness.

Oh, Ramona!

Oh, Ramona! seeks the transformation of Andrew from a teenager into an adult who lives candidly and selflessly his first love story, innocent and uninvolved, alternating with the second, intense and insane story, incapable of making a choice.

Stranger by the Lake

Frank spends his summer days hopelessly searching for companionship at a popular cruising spot on the shores of a lake in rural France. One day, he meets Michel, an attractive yet darkly mysterious man and falls blindly in love.

Palo Alto

A lack of parental guidance encourages teens in an affluent California town to rebel with substance abuse and casual sex.

The Beast of Comedy

Tsuchiya, who lives with his single mother in Osaka, does not get serious work once he graduates from high school, but rather devotes himself to mailing jokes to the “Ohgiri” variety show. Seeking to be recognized as a show “Legend,” he devotes his entire life to laughter, setting himself the task of submitting hundreds of entries per day. At loose ends, he encounters a drifter, Pink, who finds him work at his bar while Tsuchiya now devotes himself to becoming a “postcard craftsman” who submits material to a radio program. The entertainers on the program begin to use material from his postcards. A comedian Tsuchiya admires, one of a comic duo called “Bacon,” says on the air that he admires Tsuchiya’s material and that he wants “to do material together.” Dreaming of another chance, Tsuchiya heads for Tokyo.

Like the Ones I Used to Know

December 24, 1983, 10:50 p.m.; Julie and her cousins ate too much sugar, and Santa Claus is late. Denis, alone in his car, is anxious about setting foot in his former in-laws’ house to pick up his children.

Olmo

1979, New Mexico, USA. Olmo is stuck. Today is his turn to take care of his sick father even though he is only 14-years-old and would much rather be hanging out with his best friend, Miguel. But when Olmo gets invited to a party by his beautiful neighbour Nina, he will do whatever he can to get out of his duties, embarking on a journey of mischief and chaos. As the night unfolds, he may come to love the very place from which he has spent so long trying to escape: his home.

The Day My Kid Went Punk

A nerdy teen makes himself over as a punk rocker, embarrassing his conservative parents in the process.

Astrakan

Samuel is a wild-looking twelve-year-old orphan who has been placed with a nanny, Marie, for several weeks. Marie, who is struggling between her feelings and her need for money, is married to Clément with whom she has two sons, Alexis and Dimitri. Very quickly Samuel will have to get to know this new family and their possible secrets.

An American Hate Crime

Jake, a college drop out, along with his friends decide to take their homophobia to a whole other level when when they decide to download a gay oriented social media app where they would lure and attack innocent victims. Noah, a just coming to terms gay teen, doesn't know who to talk to about his feelings and turns to the same social media app the attackers use on their prey. Told from both perspectives of the main characters and a chilling conclusion that will alter everyone's lives forever.